Haslam rues missed opportunities

Despite feeling as though he has 'missed out on a lot of points' this season, including two or three wins, Leon Haslam is sure his first BMW World Superbike victory is just around the corner.

The 2010 runner-up has endured an at-times frustrating second year with the BMW team, his five podiums thus far negated by missed opportunities elsewhere, most notably his leg injury at Phillip Island, his crash out of a comfortable lead at Assen and the unfortunate skirmish on the final bend at Donington Park that arguably prevented him from winning.

Coupled to a lacklustre weekend in the USA that dropped him off the lead fight in the overall standings, Haslam has been playing catch up, but feels his misfortune is at least indicative of his victory potential.

“The first half of the season has been ups and downs. I already had many podiums and I should have had at least two or three wins. But it has been a very tough first half of the season, with breaking my leg, crashing in the lead, being taken whilst leading and some other little issues.

“We missed out on a lot of points but are still very close. So we are very confident building up to the second part of the season. We know we can win and we know we can fight for the podium every weekend. We just need to concentrate on this target.”

Looking ahead to round eight at Motorland Aragon, Haslam is anticipating a strong weekend after completing a successful test there a week earlier.

“Aragón is a new racetrack; last year was the first time for everyone. A lot of teams are now finding what they need on the bike and from the set up. Many teams have tested there. So did we last week and we also found good settings for this circuit, so I am looking forward again to the race.

“Last year it was not the best of weekends for us, Troy broke his arm and I had pretty average results. But for this time I am actually looking forward to going there. The track is very demanding; it has a lot of corners that hang on to you. It is not a circuit that suits an aggressive riding style; it is more fast and flowing. You have to be very precise with your lines and your set-up, but with these facts you have good racing.”

Haslam is currently sixth in the standings, 87.5 points behind series leader Max Biaggi.

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cmon Leon doing be saying coulda woulda shoulda at this stage. put your head down and get on with it otherwise melandri will be taking top Spot at BMW. If we were saying the shouldve, couldve then Checa would be in a healthy lead in the championship by now!